194 Chinese Clay Figures 



As to the Li, the inhabitants of the island of Hainan, the same author 

 states that they make helmets of plaited rattan. 



A cuirass of the Lolo is figured and described by F. Starr. 1 It is 

 composed of heavy, moulded plates of thick leather, varnished black 

 and decorated in red and yellow, the shoulders being protected by two 

 projecting wings. From this plastron is suspended an apron of seven 

 horizontal rows of scales, each row overlapping the one above it, and 

 the scales in each row overlapping. The mode of wear of this armor 

 may be seen in the portrait of the Lolo chief Ma-tu figured by Ch. 

 Francois, 2 who states that these cuirasses are made of buffalo-skin 

 painted with various colors, somewhat similar in shape to the ancient 

 Japanese armor. 3 



Two specimens of Lolo armor are described by Herbert Mueller, 4 

 which are of the same type as the one figured by Starr, only that those 

 have the central breastplate, which is apparently lost in the latter speci- 

 men. Neither Starr nor Mueller has recognized what type of armor is 

 here represented. It is not armor of a uniform structure, but one 

 in which two principles are combined, that of sheets, and that of plates 

 or laminae. The sheets form the body armor proper, ten in number, 



employment of shells for decorative purposes, on the contrary, is a general charac- 

 teristic of all cultures in south-eastern Asia and Tibet, where they are employed in 

 a manner foreign to the Chinese. The Tibetan women use large shells as bracelets, 

 and wear girdles, to which rows of shells are attached. It is surprising to find these 

 in the high mountainous regions of Sze-ch'uan (for instance, in Romi-Drango), in 

 isolated spots remote from the sea, whither these shells must have been brought 

 from India via Tibet, or from Burma by way of Yun-nan. The women of the P'u- 

 jen, a tribe of the T'ai or Shan stock formerly inhabiting Yun-nan, used to wear a 

 short skirt, to which ten rows of marine shells were fastened all round (C. Sainson, 

 Histoire particuliere du Nan-Tchao, p. 164). The women of the White Kuo-lo or 

 Lo-lo covered their heads with black cloth adorned with shells {ibid., p. 167) ; compare 

 also pp. 170, 175, 179, 185, in regard to other tribes who observed the same practice. 

 An interesting study of the Indian shell industry was recently published by J. 

 Hornell (The Chank Bangle Industry, Memoirs As. Soc. Bengal, Vol. Ill, pp. 407- 

 448, Calcutta, 1913). 



1 Lolo Objects in the Public Museum, Milwaukee (Bulletin of the Public Museum 

 of the City of Milwaukee, Vol. I, 191 1, p. 216 and Plate III, 8). 



2 Notes sur les Lo-lo du Kien-tchang {Bulletin de la Societe d' Anthropologic, 1904, 

 p. 640). 



3 The correctness of this comparison seems to me doubtful. Playfair (China 

 Review, Vol. V, p. 93) has drawn from a modern Chinese source the following notes 

 on armor among the Kiu-ku Miao: "The crown of the head is protected by an iron 

 helmet which leaves the back of the head exposed. On the shoulders they wear two 

 pieces of hammered iron armor, of considerable weight, which act as a face-guard. 

 Their body armor covers the whole of the back and the chest. In addition they wear 

 iron chain mail covering the entire body and weighing about thirty catties; they 

 have the appearance of being enclosed in a cage. Their legs are cased in iron greaves 

 of great strength. They carry in their left hand a wooden shield, in their right a 

 sharp-edged spear." Chain mail is discussed in Chapter IV. 



* Baessler-Archiv, Vol. Ill, 1912, p. 59 and Plate III. 



